Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Links to online translations of fiction into Latin for practice

Below are listed some modern translations into Latin of fiction (many 
for children, like the Harry Potter books you just read) available
online. They are all fairly easy, the stories are engaging, and they
provide lots and lots of enjoyable practice. The Latin is "Classical"
in intent--certainly much more so than medieval Latin. I'd start w/ the
"Fabulae Divales" stories, myself. (This book ends with a Cupid and
Psyche selection, which could be a transition to the just-announced
Apuleius group, although Apuleius is hard, I think, for someone who has
not read actual Classical Latin yet.) For anyone who finds the
standard Classical Latin authors difficult, stories like these are a
great way to gain facility, as they are "low difficulty, high interest."

<http://tinyurl.com/5kpv9o>
-- selected fairy tales (FABULAE DIVALES)

<http:/
/tinyurl.com/5mxdhp
>
-- a sea yarn from 1000 B.C., Phoenician sailors (PERICLA NAVARCHI MAGONIS)

<http://tinyurl.com/6d4e3a>
-- TREASURE ISLAND (ISLA THESAVRARIA, I would skip the translator's
intro, first time around!)

<http://tinyurl.com/5lkl96>
-- a modern (1910's) detective story (MYSTERIUM ARCAE BOULE)

<http://tinyurl.com/j4wn9>
-- 4 Sherlock Holmes stories

<http://phaselus.org.
uk/
>
-- some classics (WIND IN THE WILLOWS, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE PRISONER
OF ZENDA, ANIMAL FARM)

<http://www.intratext.com/X/LAT0697.HTM>
-- ALICE IN WONDERLAND

There are several more such, online or in book form: THE WIZARD OF OZ,
PINOCCHIO, WINNIE THE POOH, CHARLOTTE'S WEB, selected FAIRY TALES,
MAKITA: THE STORY OF A MOUSE IN THE TIME OF THE PHARAOHS, etc., etc.

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